Bolton Wanderers make their return to England's second tier on the opening weekend of the 2026/27 campaign against Preston North End. Bolton only lost twice in their own backyard last season, while Preston managed just seven wins from 23 away games, but the visitors haven't lost any of their last eight games against Wanderers.
Bolton played out five stalemates in their opening eight matches in League One last season, and only went on to lose nine of their 46 games on their way to promotion back into the Championship.
Preston only managed to win 15% of their away games in the league last season, and facing a newly promoted side on the opening day of a new campaign often proves to be much trickier than it should be on paper.
We've backed both teams to score in this game as Bolton only failed to score on four occasions at the Toughsheet Community Stadium last season, but also only managed to keep seven clean sheets at home.
Preston only failed to score in six of their away trips last season, and both teams scored in 13 of their 23 matches on the road.
History certainly favours Preston in this game, but Bolton are going to be full of positivity and looking to get off to a good start.
Bolton 1-1 Preston
